MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance has kept one of his campaign promises.
During his speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention, Vance, a Middletown native, said: “I’m proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober. I love you, Mom. And, you know, Mom, I was thinking. It’ll be 10 years officially in January of 2025, and if President Trump’s okay with it, let’s have the celebration in the White House.”
On Friday, Beverly Aikins, Vance’s mother, celebrated her 10th year of sobriety in a Roosevelt Room ceremony with friends and family members, according to a release from the White House.
During the ceremony, Aikins received her 10-year medallion.
After years of addiction, Aikins, a nurse at an addiction recovery center in the Cincinnati area, devotes her life to her family and to helping Americans who are struggling with addiction.
In a 2024 interview, Aikins, who lives in Middletown, said her message to people battling addiction is “to reach out, to try to get help, and that recovery is hard, but it’s so worth it.”
She was included in Vance’s memoir turned Netflix adaptation Hillbilly Elegy, which detailed his roots in rural Kentucky and blue-collar Middletown and his mother’s struggle with addiction.
After Vance was elected the 50th vice president of the United States in November 2024, Aikins attended a Middletown City Council meeting and urged the city to honor her son, a 2003 Middletown High School graduate.
On Feb. 1, when one of the seven signs welcoming motorists to Vance’s hometown was unveiled, Aikins attended the ceremony on Cincinnati-Dayton Road.
She called the ribbon cutting “a remarkable honor bestowed upon my son” and “a significant moment” for the family.
She was one of about 100 residents and community leaders who attended the event on Cincinnati-Dayton Road at the entrance to Middletown near Bern’s Garden Center.
